Utah’s Start Up Industry

Utah’s History

Utah has a long history of education, innovation and growth. In 1927, a former BYU student produced and patented the first TV. In 1954, a University of Utah Ph.D. graduate and future BYU professor produces the first synthetic diamond and in 1969 the University of Utah become one of the four universities connected to ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet. Here are some additional Utah facts:

• The Founders of Atari, Adobe Systems, Silicon Graphics and Pixar were educated at the University of Utah
• WordPerfect, Novell and Iomega were founded and headquartered in Utah
• Utah has become an ideal genetic laboratory having discovered more genes in its research facilities than any other place in the world

Utah’s Universities

From the 2003 Interim Results for AUTM Survey:

• BYU ranked number 1st and the University of Utah ranked 11th for Invention Disclosures
• BYU is ranked 2nd in Start-up Companies Formed
• BYU is ranked 3rd in both US Patents Issued and New US Patent Applications Filed

From the 1996 – 2000 AUTM Survey:

• BYU ranked 1st and the University of Utah ranked 8th in Invention Disclosures per $1 Million Spent on Research
• BYU ranked 1st and the University of Utah ranked 5th in Number of Start-up Companies Formed per $10 Million Spent on Research
• BYU ranked 3rd in License Income per $1 Spent on Research and 4th on New US Patent Applicants Filed per $1 Million Spent on Research
• University of Utah ranked 6th in Universities that Formed the Most Start-up Companies

Utah’s Strengths

• Inc. magazine has ranked Utah as the top state for entrepreneurial activity for both 2003 and 2004
• Forbes magazine in May 2004 reported that Provo is the 6th best city for a business start-up
• Entrepreneur magazine and D&B’s 2003 report on the Best Cities for Entrepreneurs ranked Salt Lake City/Ogden as the 5th best city and Provo/Orem the 3rd best midsize city
• For the past two years Utah has had the highest number of Inc. 500 companies per capita. In the 2004 rankings Utah has 6.8 Inc. 500 companies per million residents with the next closest state having 3.9 companies per million residents
• Utah had the 2nd highest number of Forbes 200 Best Small Companies per capita in 2004 and had the 4th highest number of Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 companies per capita in 2004
• Beacon Hill Institute ranked Utah as 2nd in their Metro Area and State Competitiveness Report in 2004
• The Milken Institute ranked Utah as 9th in their State Technology and Science Index
• The Milken Institute ranked Utah as 11th in their State Biopharmaceutical Innovation Pipeline Index
• The Milken Institute ranked Utah as 3rd highest in biopharmaceutical employment growth over the past 10 years